Ashwood's Rebirth
by Ashwood's Flame
Summary: AU; Alissa Ross was a normal sixteen year old. Well, as normal as you can get with an alien consciousness running around in her head. She was just wanting to finish her Sophomore year in high school, not to get dragged into an alien war for what appears to be a second time. Mentioned OP/OC and M/OC T-M Rating
1. Suspicions

**Hello my readers! If you don't know, this is a rewrite of my 'main' storyline, Ashwood's Rebirth Part One.**

**This is going to be in third person and will explain about more about the plot line of Ashwood's Story, which will definitely be posted when ARC ONE of Ashwood's Rebirth is complete. I'm sorry for this long wait, and I'm sorry for having to rewrite this, but the words no longer flow with the plot.**

**I do not own Transformers.**

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**AU; Alissa Ross was a normal sixteen year old. Well, as normal as you can get with an alien consciousness running around in her head. She was just wanting to finish her Sophomore year in high school, not to get dragged into an alien war for what appears to be a second time. Mentioned OP/OC and M/OC**

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**Chapter 1:**

**Suspicions**

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MY NAME IS ALISSA MARIE ROSS. I lived in Tranquility Nevada for the first five years of my life and the Hayden Kansas for the next ten. Last year, I moved to Wichita Kansas, two hours east away from Hayden. I have an older sister who is twenty two and my parents are divorced. Mom got custody of me, which is why we moved to Hayden.

Last year, something... amazing and utterly terrifying happened to me when we went on a family trip to Mission City. I saw the creatures from my dreams appear from ordinary vehicles and saved as many humans as they could. There was a silver one, it/he had red eyes/optics and when he tried to take a blue eye/optic one, I had ran and stopped in front of it/him.

'_Not him._' I had said. '_Not any of them._' The freaky part was, I was trying to run away when this happened. And I didn't even speak in my own voice! It had turned more flow-y, but more... mechanical. '_Leave this planet be._'

Both had been too shocked to move until the small silver one – the one with blue eyes/optics – lunged forward and gently grabbed me before taking off to join the others. When he let me down, I regained control of my body and bolted, not even noticing until later that he had called me '_Ashwood_'.

But, that was a month ago.

A bombing, they say. Terrorists and illusion gas, they lie. I don't believe them. I know. I _know_.

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A blonde with multiple locks of hair dyed a different color than the other walked in the park. Her honey blonde hair contrasted the silver, red, blue, and black, but one could barely see the yellow and gold that had been dyed as well. It went to the small of her back. She had stunning blue eyes and a small scar on the corner of her mouth that disappeared when she smiled, so she smiled no matter what. She was thin, but she couldn't fathom why as she constantly ate.

She shivered and pulled her baby blue jacket closer to her as she looked at her sandal clad feet. Her white slacks swished as she took a step before she paused and looked up, noticing a very familiar Pontiac Solstice parked in one of the stalls. She shook her head lightly and began to walk past it when a cool hand wrapped around her arm, making her jerk to face the Solstice. "Let me go!" She said, her voice wavering slightly as she pulled on her arm.

The African American man had a sorrowful expression and the blonde noticed that he had stunning blue eyes as well, if not more electric than hers. "Ah afraid ah can't do that." He said with a thick accent. The teenager stiffened and clenched her free hand around her keys, ready to stab him with them if he didn't let her go.

"Let. Me. Go." She growled, glaring at the man. He flinched slightly, but shook his head. A second later, the Top-kick and Camaro from Mission City parked on either side of the Solstice, making her freeze. "Please, just let me go." She whimpered, knowing that whenever the blue optic ones, then the others were sure to follow. "Ya don't know what's going to happen. Just let me go."

"What's going to happen?" He asked, loosening his grip slightly, but not enough that she could break. She looked at the sky nervously as an F-22 flew over head. She shivered, which didn't go unnoticed. "Bee, Ironhide, Ah got her." He said to the two vehicles. She turned with him, screwing her eyes shut to the point of tears. She shouldn't have went digging for that extra information on Mission City! She just wanted to see what the others who had been there thought. She didn't want to get their attention again!

"Who are you, young one?" A gruff, accented voice asked. She opened her eyes slightly to see someone who could easily pass as a drill sergeant in front of her.

"M-my name is A-Alissa." She stammered. "A-Alissa Ross." The man stayed quiet for a second before frowning.

"Where were you last month, on May 5th?" He questioned. Alissa felt sick as she swallowed thickly, something _very_ off about this.

"M-Mission C-City. I-I was with Rose, my sister, and my mother when we heard explosions. We ran out of the city as fast as we could." She answered weakly, leaving out the part of her saving the small silver blue optic robot. The man nodded slightly at this and the other one let go of her. However, as soon as he did so, Alissa's feeling of dread doubled and she doubled over in pain. A blond man, looking eerily like her, caught her along with the man who had grabbed her arm.

"What's wrong?" The first man she met asked. "Bee, a don't think that...?"

"No, it would've done so by now..." The blonde murmured. Alissa opened her eyes and looked at them carefully as she backed away from them.

"What would've done so by now?" She whispered to the blond, who had blanched with the unknown men. "What are you hiding from me? What _isn't_ the government hiding from the people?"

"She heard that? But only ExIS could here our comms." The African American mused. Alissa looked at all of them before baking away and shaking her head.

"Ya barmy. All of ya." She declared. "Ya keep talkin' as if ah'm... ah'm some sort of alien."

"That accent, where did you pick it up from?" The eldest one asked.

"Ah was raised in the country." She defended, crossing her arms as she rubbed her throat. She hated hiding her accent, but in the city, she kept being made fun of. "I personally like my accent, but the jerks and jackasses in my class don't think the same way I do."

"Language youngling." The eldest snapped, making Alissa roll my eyes.

"Yeah, _sure._" She scoffed. "Look, if you whackos want to keep trying to question random people, go on, but I'm not looking for any trouble." With a sharp turn, she started to walk back towards her house.

Who were those people? What did they want with her?

Alissa shivered and pulled her jacket closer to her just as there was a rather loud, earthshaking explosion right behind her, a piece of asphalt hitting her head, making her tumble to the concrete. With an even greater shudder, Alissa slowly raised her head, knowing that if she turned around, her suspicions would be confirmed.

She had just blown off her only hope on surviving to her 18th birthday.

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**Review and tell me how you want her to react!**


	2. Run

**Special thanks to you people!**

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The Fox Familiar - Well, I learned that you should use the first few chapters to get all of the clichéd stuff out of the way, which is the 'damsel in distress' 'saved by Autobots' kind of stuff along with the character development, so I'm sorry about all of the cliché. I'm just getting it out of the way. I understand the tense issue, but I can't help it. I'm only human!

autobotgirlforever - Well, here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy it!

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**I don't own Transformers!**

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**Chapter 2:**

**Run**

Taking a deep breath, Alissa heard a groan of bending metal before scrambling up to her feet and running. It was mission city all over again, she realized as she heard a woman scream. '_Do NOT look around._' She chanted. After scrambling around the corner of Broadway and Douglas, at the Orpheum theater, she bolted towards Hillside, desperate to find one of those vehicles. There was a charcoal black truck, right? Alissa growled at her memory issues and pushed herself to go faster. A howl sent shivers down her spine and she stumbled, her right ankle rolling.

She straightened out and automatically looked over her shoulder. There, at the end of the block, was a black, metallic creature. It had 'saliva' dripping from it's horridly made face and stood on four legs with a jagged looking tail thrashing back and forth, completely taking out the Orpheum's doors. '_That was one of our main attractions._' She thought blankly. The hound like creature's head suddenly snapped towards her and open it's mouth in a roar that nearly blew her eardrums. The pretty – to Alissa at least – blue liquid splattered all over the place and when it landed on the civilians between Alissa and the creature, they screamed and wiped it of to reveal bubbling skin. '_Poisonous! That liquid is poisonous!_'

There was a harsh clicking as it stalked two steps forward, making Alissa limp four steps back. "_Ash... Wood._"It growled, sending another shiver up her spine. She had seen documentaries on TV about the hunter and the prey and right now, she was the timid little Gazelle that always got killed. Oh, _hell_ no if she was going to just stand there and let that happen.

"Nope!" She exclaimed before turning around and bolting once more.

"_Distraction_." A voice whispered from her own mouth. It was the same voice that had taken over her body to save that silver robot. "_Don't think about the Tracker and think about something._"

Alissa scoffed, realizing that she was still in control of her body. "Think of what?! Ah'm being bloody chased!" She retorted without even thinking about it.

"_What about that cute boy? What was his name, James? You wouldn't want to miss our date with him, would you?_" The voice said. Alissa panted at running so hard for so long, but managed a weak smile. James had light blonde hair and blue eyes, but not as intense as Alissa's. He was tall, about 5'9", but so shy. She felt her body stumble and snapped from her thoughts just as she almost ran into Grove's traffic. "_No, don't stop!_"

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The warning came too late.

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A bone crushing weight landed on her and Alissa's head hit the concrete of the sidewalk with a harsh crack, making her pass out. The black creature let out a roaring chuckle that made the civilians in their cars, who had been forced to stop as the creature was in the street, to cover their ears and flex back into their seats as far as they could. The creature walked up to the crumpled organic and did a simple scan, which indicated two broken ribs, a bruised Humerus on her left servo, and a twisted ankle joint on her right pede. The scan also showed a concussion, but it couldn't tell if it was serious or mild though it did know the organic was temporarily offline.

It turned off the energon lines that the Autobot cybercat had opened and made sure that no energon was within it's mouth before picking up the organic roughly enough to make sure she didn't fall out while it was running. It started it's journey east, the direction the organic had been traveling. '_How in the name of Primus could this little thing ever be our hope to resurrect Cybertron? They burn at the mere touch of energon! How do they survive?_' it thought. It was on the outskirts of an organic town called Augusta ten minutes later when the sound of five raging engines was heard through it's over sensitive mechanical ears.

With a growl of an animal defending it's kill – which was almost very much true – it pushed the organic into a small, rough outcrop that his sensors couldn't see through. It turned around and ran a good hundred meters before the five offending vehicles came into view. There was a black Topkick, silver Solstice, yellow camaro, yet another yellow vehicle – an ambulance, it's CPU identified – and a blue peterbilt with red flames painted on it.

"**Tracker, where is the human?**" The Cybertronian who was the peterbilt demanded. Tracker merely growled and barred it's fangs at the five. It had orders. Orders it planned to keep.

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'_GET THE ORGANIC FEMME AWAY FROM AUTOBOT WATCH. I DON'T CARE IF YOU HAVE TO OFFLINE HER, KEEP HER AWAY FROM THEM!_'

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Alissa woke with a groan and rubbed her head only to wince as moving her arm hurt her ribs. She slowly felt the large gash that stretched across from her left ear to just above her left eye brow. She definitely needed stitches. Taking a deep breath before curling into a ball. '_If this is death,_' She thought bitterly. '_Then I don't want it._'

'_Relax. Help always comes._' The Voice said. Alissa screwed her eyes shut and mentally scoffed. No one ever helped her before.

Why should they now?

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**Review if you wish to point out any issues or if you just want to say hi!**


	3. Meetings Part 1

**I'm alive and I have a long chapter to prove it! Chapters from here on out shall be at least 1,500 words long, which is better than my other version of this story. Sorry about the false E-mail! I was looking over the story and noticed that Ashwood speaking in Alissa's head wasn't underlined!**

**'_Thinking_' Is Ashwood**

**'_Thinking'_ Is Alissa**

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autobotgirlforever: Hullo, how's life? I'm glad you like it so far!

catspajamas12: The warning was the don't wait, but you're speaking of the line break, which basically transfers to third person, time crunch or first person, and that says the title of the story, Ashwood's Rebirth.

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**I do not own transformers! I only own the ExIS and plot for this story, which takes place between the first and second real life movies! If you wish to use the idea for ExIS or even one of my characters for any of my stories, please ask before you do!**

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Warning!: This is where the rating begins to turn M. Short T, huh?

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Alissa stumbled to where the out cove just covered her and peeked out, she fell flat on her arse as a large, black metallic hand swiped and took out the rocks covering her. Quickly rolling to the side to avoid being stepped on, she watched as the black, red-opticed robot – _Cybertronian_, her mind reminded her patiently – fought the blue opticed ones. Shaking her head and making it pound even more, she stood up, swayed, before once again taking off. Instead of running away from the battle, she did something even _her_ befuddled mind couldn't comprehend.

She ran into the fight.

The blonde shook her head and stumbled back after ten meters away from the torn out cove. What the hell was she thinking?! Apparently she want to be squashed, that's what! Leaning against one of the walls, she shivered as she peeked out and saw the pure malice in the red-opticed Cybertronian. Was that the one that saved her? A closer look said no, that's the one that kidnapped her. Once again, it was the blue-opticed ones that saved her. Was she wrong to tell the man to leave her alone? Did he know these Cybertronians personally? '_Was that man a Cybertronian?_' She thought before shaking her head. That man was very much real, not a hologram that you can stick your hand through.

'_You're letting logic control you._'

'_No shit! A bunch of 20+ foot metal aliens are fighting over me – they probably don't know the bad luck I bring – and you try telling me I can't rely on the last thing I have?_' Alissa thought snidely. '_Dear god, I'm arguing with myself!_'

'_Fine, have it your way. As soon as the Autobots begin to question you about the voice in your head, just tell them Ashwood says hi._' The motherly voice sighed. Alissa took the disappearance of the presence in her head as a good sign and slowly peeked out to see the dust cloud slowly disappearing to show the 'Autobots' standing tall and proud.

"Quickly, scan the area! Rampage couldn't have left the human that far away!" The yellow with red stripes ordered. Alissa peeked out a bit more. That was the tranquility ambulance colors! There was a chuckle and she slowly looked to her right to see the silver bot she had saved kneeling beside her.

"Hello there lil' lady." He said, offering her a clawed hand. Hesitantly, Alissa grabbed one of his digits and his other hand helped her hop into his palm. "Ya seem to be pickin' up trouble."

"_I_ am the trouble." She murmured. What was she doing? These things could easily kill her! Not to mention their blood. Oh… _OH GOD…_ "Those people!" She yelled suddenly, her eyes snapping open. "They got that liquid on their skin! That blue crap that was leaking out of that thing's mouth!"

"They are being treated for the Energon burns as we speak Miss Ross." The tallest said. Alissa craned her neck to meet blue optics that were the very same shade as the mech's who was holding her. "How was it that Rampage was able to get you after I sent my troops for you?"

"If ya had just told me something was gonna happen then ah wouldn't have ran!" Alissa said, rolling her eyes. "Ma mother is probably worried sick!"

"I can assure you Miss Ross, your mother knows you are in safe hands." He assured.

"My name is Alissa and I would prefer it if you called me that or Ali." The blonde muttered. "What does my own mother know that I don't?" She demanded in a louder tone.

"Later youngling." The yellow one said, dismissing her question and carefully plucking her by the back of her jacket. She squealed in protest at being so high up with nothing below her feet.

"I'm not a youngling! Put me down!"

"Definitely not a flier then." The charcoal black Autobot grunted. "It's can't be her then."

"C-can't be who?" Ali asked, still swinging in the yellow one's grip.

"**Ash-wood.**" The one that was the Camaro answered. Ali's electric eyes lit up slightly.

"As soon as the Autobots begin to question you about the voice in your head, just tell them Ashwood says hi." She quoted.

"_Any connection to Ashwood, ExIS or not, will grab the Decepticons attention. She must've been one of Ashwood's friends before her death._" The one holding her said. She huffed.

"If you're not gonna put me down anytime soon, Ah'm gonna unzip my jacket and let myself down!" She threatened. '_Oh dear. The 'Cons want me? Why? I can't do anything while I'm sharing a body with you._'

'You're_ this person they want?! What do you mean by sharing a body with me?!_' Ali thought, feeling thoroughly freaked out. The one holding her merely raised an optic ridge – '_Stop giving me the right terms!_' '_So you want to feel out of the loop?_' '_No._' – but didn't do anything. With an overly frustrated huff, she quickly unzipped and let her arms slid through the sleeves, revealing a sleeveless, v-neck forest green shirt with frills on the 'neck' part. She was thankful that she had a good sense of hygiene before letting go. Granted it was only about a seven foot drop from where she was dangling, the Autobots still freaked out. She landed and glared at them. "_Not a flier my aft._" This Ashwood said, her voice sounding different. "_Can we just go before she regains control?_"

'_I hate you._' Alissa growled from her mental binds.

'_For the greater good._'

'_Greater good my arse. You want to be with them. Why?_'

'_See the Camaro and solstice?_' Ashwood asked as they slowly crawled into the semi.

'_Yeah, why?_'

'_They're my sparklings, children._' Ashwood answered. '_They were… thirteen when I died I believe? Well… the human equivalent of thirteen years old._'

'_So young._' Ali thought, slowly regaining control. "Where are we going?" She asked aloud, her voice holding all of her teenage attitude she gained from her human mother.

"Back to our bass Miss Ross." He answered.

"Ma name is Ali."

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Alissa sulked in the back of the conference room as humans – apparently she wasn't human – filled the room along with what the head Autobot, Optimus Prime, had told her to be others like her, whom they called ExIS, which was short for Ex Inter-galactic Species. Yep, she was half alien and half human. The chair beside her scraped on the floor and she looked up to glare at the man – the footsteps had been too heavy for a woman – just for her breath to hitch slightly. He was handsome, but at the sight of the wedding band on his left hand, she quickly looked away. No, she wouldn't be a home wrecker.

"You're the new ExIS, right? ExIS 319?" He asked, making her teenage hormones instantly reel back.

"My name is Alissa!" She hissed violently. "Or are all we are numbers to you?" She added, narrowing her eyes. The man just laughed.

"No, I wanted to know your name. I try to remember all of your names, but there's about 350 of you, so you tend to get names jumbled up. Besides, the report on finding you in right here." He answered, waving a manila envelope. Ali's eyes followed its every movement. "You haven't read it, have you?"

"I literally just got here." She answered, turning her gaze to glare at the three Autobots who probably led to her getting kidnapped by Rampage, the dog like Decepticon. "Came from Hayden Kansas, had a twenty two year old sister who hated that I couldn't handle the stress of our parents divorcing – never could really wrap my head around that one, Dad just announced it out of the blue on Valentine's Day soon to be two years ago – and the fact that his home wrecking girlfriend had agreed to be someone else's fiancée. My life has been a whole drama ever since." Ali sighed, wondering if they got that much.

She looked up to see the man's smile had quickly vanished into a scowl. "There are some people who should just stay at home." He muttered. Ali looked at his uniform trying to find a name. "What are you looking for?"

"You don't have a _nametag_." She said, feeling her scowl deepen. "It's not fair that you know my name but I don't know yours!"

"Life isn't fair." He joked before unbuttoning the top two buttons and flipping the left side to reveal the name tag Ali was trying to find. _Lennox_. "Sarah sewed them on the wrong way. Everyone's teasing me about it." Ali couldn't stop her giggle and clapped her hands over her mouth.

"I accidentally did that with my dad before he had his TIA. I had to pull them off and re-stitch them when he got home." She admitted, getting a laugh from him as well. She heard a cough and noticed everyone was waiting for something to happen. "Sorry…" She whispered, any emotions disappearing off of her face, embarrassment dancing in her eyes as she quickly looked to the floor.

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The meeting was a joke, Ali realized as they were not even ten minutes in and the ExIS were already glaring at the soldiers. She looked at Lennox, who had gone up to present, who had the same look of worry. She followed his gaze to where a brunette with deep crimson eyes was glaring at a raven with bright blue eyes. '_Not good. They were rivals once and the ExIS in them can't let that go. They'll be fighting soon._' Ashwood warned her.

Alissa tensioned and began to tap her knee nervously, catching Jazz's holoform's attention. He elbowed Bumblebee's – the Camaro's – holoform and motioned to her as she slowly began to go to the edge of her seat, her eyes dancing between the two. The only soldiers who saw this were Lennox, the African American man next to him, and a honey blonde whose hand twitched to the gun holstered on her hip. What happened next was what they were all expecting.

The two lunged at each other, violently knocking others out of their way. Alissa saw the woman begin to take the gun out and calmly walked to her, holding out a tiny hand with big blue eyes clearly stating what she was wanting to do. The blonde hesitated, but with one look behind Ali, she handed over the gun. Ali stalked back to her corner and fired three times on the concrete floor, making everyone freeze.

"Now that you're kindly over," She said loudly, her voice just oozing disappointment. "I think we should continue on with the meeting."

"What about us?" The blue eyed ExIS complained as everyone began to settle down again. Alissa gave the gun back and looked at him calmly. He had a black eye, split lip and multiple abrasions, but he would survive.

"You'll survive." She simple stated. When he began to sputter, Alissa began to glare. "You two are the ones who chose to fight. You should have thought of the consequences before you decided that disturbing the peace was better than not being injured." Everyone was silent as she just so calmly picked up the chair she had pushed aside so she could shoot the floor and sat down, using the chain in front of her as a footrest. "Well? I'm waiting."

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	4. Meetings (P2) And Training (P1)

Guys, I think i broke my brain writing this. D=

I was going to have the training session in the same chapter, but this is easily +2,500 words!

**(Added in: I do not believe in any type of abuse nor have I ever gone through abuse. Yes, my parents are divorcing, but they have never said anything to me that could be considered abuse)**

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**No Reviews**

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Thanks to all who read! I do not own Transformers, but I do own Alissa, Zachary, Zenya, Michelle and the idea of the ExIS (Ex Intergalactic Species)

Let the chapter begin!

'_Alissa thoughts_'

'_Ashwood Thoughts_'

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"Here you go." Lennox said, showing Ali a building. It was a nice yellow with a white trim. "It's where unidentified ExIS go."

"And if they never get identified?" Ali asked. During the rest of the meeting – it merely said do this, don't do that, and behave – Ashwood had pleaded with her to not reveal who she was. "What do you do then?"

"Keep testing and training them until something slips, or at least that's what we're supposed to do." The soldier answered with a grim face. Ali was feeling bold.

"And if they don't wish to be revealed?"

Lennox looked at her oddly. "Most want to." He simply said before motioning for her to follow him to the three story building.

"But I don't want to." She whispered. Alissa wasn't stupid. She knew whomever this Ashwood was, she was powerful and dangerous and if she was to be revealed, then she would never have a life afterwards. Shaking her head, Ali jogged after him, grimacing as the pain in her knees started again. She had been born with bone spurs, or extra bones in her knees. It stopped her from running properly and she often walked with a limp (her left leg was worse) if she was at home. But no, she was at the ExIS Quarters, which doubled as a town in itself. "So where's my room?" She asked once they reached the hotel like lobby.

"Top floor, corner apartment." Lennox answered, looking at the chart with a frown. "Those rooms are the ones with windows that open. Normal they pu the older ExIS, those who have transformed in there."

"Transformed? I'm human. If I transform, I'm gonna be a gooey mess of blood, flesh and bones." She said, laughing sharply while she was mentally panicking. Unlucky her had chosen to say the 'I'm gonna be a gooey mess of blood, flesh and bones' in front of Ratchet's holoform, who's eyes popped out. "Always! It's always my luck!" She growled, swatting away the medic to glare at Lennox, who had issues standing up straight. "I'm fine Ratchet. Just something I was telling the Captain here."

"Still, you're overdue for your scans." The holoform said, making Alissa pale. Scans? Would he be able to see the many conditions she had and deem her unstable? What do they do to unstable ExIS?

"We need to make sure her quarters are up to date." Lennox cut in. "I'll make sure she'll go to the Med Bay personally." Ratchet nodded and walked away. "Are you going to tell me what you're so scared of or will we have to force it out?" He joked, but it just made her pale even more. It was one of the reasons why her parents divorced, she remembered. Her father had been so desperate to know why she was so different. "Alissa?"

"M'fine." She automatically said. "Can I see my room now?"

"Apartment, not room." Lennox corrected, opening up the stairwell door. "The elevator is down."

Alissa snorted. "You live with a bunch of talking alien robots and you can't repair a simple elevator?" Lennox scowled, but then smiled and lead her to the very right corner of the building. "What is it?"

"It's a three bedroom, two bath with living, dining and kitchen." He answered. "Though if I remember correctly, the living and dining are only separated by the wood floor of the dining." He struggled with the door, telling her that it stuck and that was the reason why the last person left for a smaller apartment, before it opened to reveal a mocha colored hall with bamboo hardwood floor that turned into lush beige carpet that held a three person couch, two person love seat, and single person recliner with a flat screen mounted on the small mahogany entertainment center.

She walked forward as the wooden floors continued to see a six person table – chair included – in a blue room. The dining room, obviously, as there was no wall between the living room and the one she was in. There was a small bar with two stools that led to a granite covered kitchen with stainless steel appliances and a pretty gem backsplash. "This…"

The ExIS was truly stunned. How was this for her? "It's supposed to be reserved for someone, but Optimus told me to assign you to it. Said that if she hadn't showed up yet then she had no intention of revealing herself."

"She?" Alissa asked. "I'm guessing she had siblings?"

"Erm, if she did, they didn't tell us." He said with a frown. "You said you had a sister-."

"Who I can easily tell is not an ExIS." Ali said sharply, sending him a glare. "Believe me, if anyone else in my family were ExIS, then I would be making sure that no one else gets hurt, but they aren't, so I'm kindly asking you to leave them the hell alone."

Before her bravo disappeared and her sanity realized she had just yelled at an armed soldier, Alissa turned around and walked down the hall, going into the master bedroom. It was a relaxing room, a yin-yang type design that she instantly loved. There was a small black ottoman with a white cushion sitting just under the window, and when she looked outside it, she saw the forest on the island. It was relaxing and calm, the complete opposite of what she does to people, she thought.

"We can change it, if you don't-."

"I like it." Ali said with a smile, her eyes still on the forest. "It's calming. Almost reminds me of everything I had before hell broke loose."

"Well, next week, when your checkup goes good, you'll be training in the forest. It's when we find out who was a flier."

"Do soldiers take it too?"

"Should we?"

"Well, I was planning on going into the Marine corps before all of this happened. Who says there aren't ExIS hidden deep within the ranks? Your eyes, they say you might be one."

"Impossible. I'm human."

"It's what we've been trying to say, yet you won't listen. Have you been scanned yet?"

Alissa never got an answer.

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} |**** |3 |} T |-|**

The trip to Med Bay was silent and thick with tension as Alissa calmly sat on the human sized berth while Lennox stood awkwardly in the doorway. Alissa knew her challenge was still echoing in his mind and it was only confirmed as he went and sat on the berth beside her. "Finally came in I see." Ratchet said in a scathing tone. Both Alissa and Ashwood flinched, the latter knowing he was one of two that could make her feel like she was a disappointment. "The both of you."

"Can we just get on with it?" Alissa asked, not looking up. She knew what was coming, and half of the dread was coming from Ashwood. There was a huff and something about impatient humans before the familiar sensation of being scanned washed over her, much different than Ashwood had shared with her. She opened her eyes to see the CMO's optics dark, as if saying something on a private link. "When I was three, my parents took me to the doctor's to see if I had bowed legs. I didn't, and when we x-rayed my legs just before I went into middle school because they thought I was getting bowed legs, they found out that I had bone spurs. It affect my running and, if you catch me at the right time, makes me walk with a limp, especially my left leg."

"Bone spurs?" Ratchet asked. Alissa tilted her head. Did he not use the internet or was that restricted?

"Extra bones that grow instead of disappearing when you were a baby." She answered uneasily, shifting slightly.

"Your sparkbeat is irregular as well." Ratchet stated, making Alissa cringe all the more.

"Heart disorder." She squeaked out. "Not serious enough for medication, but enough to cause issues and be spotted." There, now it was out. She opened and eye to glance at Lennox to see him gaping at her. Yep, deep trouble.

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} **** |3 |} T |-|**

"She's not training." Ratchet said flatly the next week when both Alissa and Lennox had shown up to the gate. As it turned out, Ali's suspicions were correct and he was a hidden ExIS. The blonde turned to glare at him just to get scooped up into his hand and passed off to Optimus, who seemed lost. "The youngling has a spark condition."

"I've ran and fought with it before. Why can't I now?" She said in a defensive tone, crossing her arms.

"Not to mention the needless pain she is in currently with the extra 'bones' at her knee joints." Ratchet continued, not listening to Alissa.

"Honestly, talking to him is like talking to a brick wall." The said ExIS muttered. "Look," She said, raising her voice enough to make the medic stop talking. "It's obvious that whoever this 'Ashwood' character knew me in my previous life, yeah? That makes me a very vulnerable target if I _don't_ get this training. Who says they won't bring someone who could look human, but be a Cybertronian to befriend me and then take me to whoever wants to use me to get to her? And what ever happened to the people chose what they get to do? I thought it was my choice to go through with this or not since it _is_ my body and mental state going under the pressure."

"Spoken like a true politician." She heard Epps, the African American man who was standing beside Lennox, mutter to the other soldier in question.

"I am afraid Miss Ross is correct Ratchet. She is too valuable to take the risk." Optimus said, ending the fight. He set her down and she hopped of happily, a wide smirk on her face as she walked through the gates.

She went to stand beside a twenty odd year old pair of twins, who smiled at her, making her relax slightly. "I'm Zachary and this is Zenya."

"Alissa." She said with a shy smile. "I only got here a week ago. What about you?"

"We've been here for about a month. The training was almost finished when we got here, so we had to wait for this course to start." Zenya answered with a chuckle. "You don't seem like you're eighteen."

"I'm not." Alissa answered, making their smiles vanish immediately. "Why, is that bad?"

"NEST can't take anyone under eighteen from their countries, American or not. What makes you different?" Zachary asked. A blonde beside him looked over, her brows knit together.

"Z-Zach?!" She said, her green eyes wide. The raven turned and his own blue eyes – why where they the same shade as Alissa's? – widened. "What are you doing here?" She asked with a smile.

"Attention!" Epps called as Lennox took the opposite side of the line. "You are all here because Ratchet has deemed you fit," He gave Alissa an amused look and she tried not to smile. "To be tested to see which ExIS you were. Now, many of you might get the same ExIS as a result, which is very messy paperwork for me." Epps got many laughing, Alissa included. "Today is a mere quiz, just to see how good you are with tapping in with your past live. We are not expecting you to manage to get the flag," They all looked up on the lone mountain – _'The lonely Mountain!_' Alissa thought gleefully. – "on any attempt that you may try to get it." Epps stepped to the side. "Begin."

**/=\ S |-| \^/ () () |)'S** **|} **** |3 |} T |-|**

They all shot forward, but Alissa quickly paused as she caught something glinting in the bushes. Looking at the others, she ducked into the bushes and noticed nets – rope, but still nets none the less – and a trip wire about to be set off. Her eyes widened and she squeaked, ducking back into the path and pushing Zachary and Zenya down. "Trap!" She yelled, getting odd looks, but those who had already contacted their ExIS dropped just as the nets came out in a dizzying speed. They nodded to the sixteen year old and Lennox held the branches back enough to look at her.

"How did you know?" He asked.

"Something caught my eye and when I looked, I saw a trap." She shrugged. The running was starting to bother her now, but she tried to hide it. The four came up on a row of trees to which Lennox stopped with some others – Zachary, Zenya and Alissa included – while the rest continued. Holograms popped up and those who were able to fight them off glared that the soldier, who shrugged. Those who couldn't fight them off were dragged off, making Alissa worry.

"They'll be fine, right?" She asked.

"The holograms will take them to Epps." Lennox said.

"You designed this course." Zachary said, his voice almost accusing.

"I didn't know I would be taking it one day."

'_Dear god, you can smell the testosterone._' Alissa thought bitterly. She stalked forward to a tree and noticed foot holds. She grabbed one of the branches and used it to propel herself up. That's when she noticed that there were several branches sturdy enough to balance on to cross the ambush area with enough cover to not be spotted. With a grin, Alissa set out and was about halfway when the twins and soldier noticed that she wasn't with them.

"Where's Alissa?" Zachary asked Zenya.

"I thought you were watching her!" The female exclaimed. "You were closest to her before!"

'_Slag! It's Jetfire and Jetstorm!_' Ashwood said.

"Because you were closer to First Aid!" Zachary yelled back. "You lost our own sister!"

"Who was your sister?" Lennox asked.

"If she doesn't tell you soon, then it's her choice." Zenya said after a pregnant pause. "Alissa?" That's when they finally noticed her standing on the other side, twigs and leaves sticking out of her multi-color highlighted hair. "How'd you get there?"

"Ask the soldier. He designed it." Zachary muttered.

"The trees." She merely responded before turning tail and racing into the foliage. She could hear grunts and something hitting flesh ahead, pushing herself not to fall out of the bushes just as she stumbled into a clearing to see a familiar holoform fighting an ExIS, who looked so scared. The poor man was her age if not a year or two younger. As she stared between the two blonds, she groaned and raced forward, knocking the holoform to the side. "Go before I regret this." She hissed to the teen, who nodded and took off. She was tossed off and propped herself up with her left hand while her right one held her ribs. She half glared at Bumblebee, who was frowning at her.

"Why?" He asked, not moving to attack her. "Why not go while I was distracted?" She saw Zachary and Zenya appear with a disgruntled Lennox.

"Because," She said, trying to think of a fib. How about a truth? "You never leave a man behind. I was taught that in the war by my best friends, who I considered brothers, before they went to the Decepticons. While I regret not being able to stop them, I do not regret the time I spent with them."

"What was his name?"

"He believes me to be long dead." Alissa said, just as Zachary and Aenya made it to the other side of the clearing. Where was Lennox?!

"Try me."

"Their names were Runner and Roadbreaker, but Megatron switched them to Barricade and Knock Out." Alissa smirked at his gob smacked expression. Something – an arm? – hit the joint between his neck and shoulder and the holoform collapsed to reveal a smug Lennox. "Lennox?"

"Leave no man behind." He quoted, helping her up before they raced from the area. "I have no idea what they do after this, only that there's twenty three more obstacles."

"Whoever this Ashwood girl is, she best be fit." Alissa said ruefully. She was in no way fit for anything. Lennox laughed and nodded, the two of them catching up with Zachary and Zenya long enough to see them jump off of a ledge. "Ah hell no!" She practically yelled.

"You're scared of heights?" Lennox asked. Alissa looked at him as if he was crazy.

"I'm scared of falling." She answered. "Just something that happened as a kid that scarred me. Literally." She stopped her small smile and flattened out the skin on the right side of her mouth. "But then again, all fliers are scared of falling. It's something we grew worse on as the Decepticons began with the anti-air missles."

"So you're admitting on being an Autobot flier." Lennox stated.

"Do you think I could be a Decepticon and still be friends with Ashwood?" She asked before racing from the bushes without a reply. Taking a deep breath, she launched herself off of the edge and closed her eyes.


End file.
